Seaming machine



Oct. 24, 1939. J. BREN ZlNGER 2,177,382

" SEAMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 15, 1937 5 Shets-Sheefc 1 is Q) 58 0 42/ A 40 Julia; ZZZ/127%?! ATTORNEY Oct. 24, 1939. BRENZmGER 2,177,382

S'EAM I NG MACHI NE Filed Dec. 15, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR falzuu firmzmy'er ATTORN EY Oct. 24, 1939. J. BRENZINGER SEAMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 15, 1937 5 Sheets-$heet 3 |NVEN TOR Erwin/1g?!" BY Julius ATTO R N EY Oct. 24, 1939. J. BRENZINGER 2,177,382

SEAMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 15, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 @8 60 86 1 1 I l 54/ 65 I 62 a;

Ir H II Mm ATTORNEY Oct. 24, 1939,

J. BRENZINGER Filed Dec. 15, 1937 SEAMING MACHINE "mum" 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 IIIM INVENTOR a, ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 24, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SEAIWIN G MACHINE Application December 15, 1937, Serial No. 179,823

2 Claims.

This invention relates to seaming machines of semi-automatic type in which a normally inactive seaming mechanism is set in operation as a can and cover is moved to proper seaming position in respect thereto and automatically rendered inactive after a predetermined period of activity. More especially, the invention relates to a seaming machine of the character shown in U. S. Patent No. 1,167,351 dated January 4, 1916,

with certain modifications and additions hereinafter described.

The main object and feature of the invention is to make certain that a can and cover have been raised and lowered with respect to a seaming mechanism before another cover is fed into position to be united to another can.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a view mostly in side elevation of a seaming machine of the character shown in the patent referred to above with the present invention embodied therein;

Fig. 2 is a top plan of the control connections shown in inactive relation to the cover feeding mechanism, portions being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a top plan similar to Fig. 2 with the positioning member shown in readiness to move the control member to clutch releasing position;

Fig. 4 is a similar top plan of the control connections with the clutch in action and the latch which moves the control member about to be disengaged therefrom;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged front elevation of the seaming mechanism, parts being shown in section;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged top plan of Fig. 5 showing the cover feeding mechanism and control connections therefor, parts being broken away and in section;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged rear elevation of the cover feeding and seaming mechanisms, portions of the power transmission including the clutch being shown in vertical section;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged side elevation of the clutch taken from the right in Fig. 7, parts being broken away and parts shown in section; and

Fig. 9 is a vertical section of the seaming mechanism in a plane corresponding to line 9--9 of Fig. 6.

In machines of the character shown in the above-referred to patent, the seaming mechanism is rendered efiective by causing the engagement of members of a normally inactive clutch at the same time. that the assembled can parts are raised to seaming position in respect to the seaming mechanism. For this purpose, common actuating means are provided for rendering the clutch active and for elevating the pedestal by means of which the can and cover are raised to seaming position. At the end of a predetermined period of activity, the seaming mecha- 5 nism is automatically rendered inactive and the can assembly is then lowered from seaming position.

According to the embodiment shown on the drawings, the pedestal for raising and lowering 10 the can assembly comprises a plate 28 at the top of a rod 29, which is reciprocably mounted in a projecting portion of main frame H] of the machine. As the can and cover are raised to seaming position, the seaming mechanism comprising, 15 in this instance, eccentric head 20 and seaming head 2| is rendered active by means of a clutch controlling spool 22 which raises a lower clutch member 23 into engagement with an upper clutch member 24 which is continuously rotated from a 20 power shaft through gears I2, l3, shaft l4 and gears I5, I 6. At the same time, an upper cam member 25 on spool 22 is lifted to a position to travel on a lower cam member 26 for a predetermined period of activity of the seaming 25 mechanism during which the seaming and eccentric heads 2| and 20 are rotated in the velocity ratio of say 15:14 in the manner fully explained in the above-identified patent. According to the present embodiment of the in- 30 vention, rod 29 is raised and lowered by means of connections including a link 30 actuated by a lever 3| fulcrumed at 32, lever 3| being actuated by a foot lever 33 fulcrumed at 34 and connected to lever 3| by a rod 35. At the same time, the 35 depression of foot lever 33 operates to depress a rigid arm 36 connected to the lower end of a vertical rod 31 connected at its upper end to the rear arm of a lever 38 fulcrumed at 39. The front arm of lever 38 is connected to the upper end of 40 a rod 40 which is connected at its lower end to a pin 4| on spool 22 for engaging clutch members 23 and 24. The seaming operation is terminated automatically by the fall of spool 22 after one effective revolution thereof when cam 45 25 reaches the end of its overriding engagement with cam 26. A plunger H which has a limited axial movement responsive to the rise and fall of the assembled can parts, carries at its upper end a transverse arm 42 from which depends a 50 pin or actuator 43 provided at its lower end with a cam surface in camming engagement at 44 with a cam block 45. Cam block 45 is mounted at the outer end of an arm 46 at the top of a pin 41 oscillatable in a bearing lug 48 on the frame, an- 55 other arm 49 being mounted at the bottom of pin 41 and constituting, with arm 46 and pin 41, a positioning member for a latch 59 which is fulcrumed at the outer end of arm 49. Latch 50 is provided with a notch or shoulder 5| to engage a. pin 52 on an arm or clutch controlling member 53 which is freely pivoted on the lower end of pin 41. According to Fig. 6, a tension spring 54 tends to impart a clockwise movement to arms. 46 and 49 about the axis of pin 41; a tension spring 55 maintains latch 59 in engagement with latch pin 52; and a tension spring 56 tends to move arm 53 in a clockwise direction for normally holding inactive a clutch, to be presently described, through which a power transmission operates on the cover feeding mechanism. Various forms of power transmissions may be employed for operating the cover feeding mechanism to render it operative at recurrent intervals, a preferred form being shown in Figs. 6 and 7 as driven from continuously rotated shaft I l which carries a fixed worm 51 in mesh with a worm gear 58. To render the transmission normally inactive, worm gear 58 is freely journaled on a vertical shaft 59 journaled in bearings 99 in a clutch housing 6! which is shownas a portion of the frame structure. Fixed to the upper hub face of gear 58 is a clutch disk 92 normally in rotational engagement with the bottom surface of a clutch block 63 which is keyed to the shaft 59' for driving the cover feeding mechanism whenever the clutch is released. Secured to the bottom end of shaft 59 is a crank disk 64, a crank pin 65 mounted in said disk being connected by a rod 96 to the outer end of an arm 61 on a shaft 68 oscillatable in a bracket 69 carried by the frame. Secured to the lower end of shaft 68 is an arm 19 connected by a link H to a pin 12 which depends from. the bottom of a cover feeding slide 13. Said slide is reciprocable in a guide 14 and provided at its forward end with a cover engaging member 15 for feeding covers one at a time from a stack arranged between standards 19 and moving them into the upward path of successive cans. Clutch block 93 (Figs. 6, 7 and 8) is provided with a circumferential groove 63 to the inner cylindrical wall of which control member 53 conforms while it slidably engages the lower transverse annular wall of said groove. Said clutch block is provided with a socket 19 which extends from top to bottom thereof to receive a clutch pin 89. Clutch pin 89 is provided with a radially projecting cam head 8| which slides in a radial slot 82 in the upper portion of clutch block 93, the under edge of cam head Bl being provided with a cam surface for slidable engagement with control member 53 for lifting the clutch pin from a recess 83 in clutch disk 92 at the end of each revolution of the clutch. It will be understood from the foregoing description that whenever control member 53 is withdrawn to its position shown in Fig. 4, the lower end of clutch pin 89 is permitted to drop into recess 83 in clutch disk 62 and this causes the clutch to render the power transmission active with respect to the cover feeding mechanism. A compression spring 34 seated in a hole at the top of clutch pin 39 interacts between said clutch pin and a disk 85 to press the clutch pin downwardly in such a way as to press cam head 8| against control member 53 and, upon the withdrawal of said control member, into engagement with clutch disk 62. It will be seen that whenever a container and cover is raised to seaming position, an accompanying upward movement of arm 42 (Fig. 5) with actuator cam pin 43 permits a clockwise displacement of the positioning member (arms 46', 49, Fig. 6) A consequent endwise movement of latch 59 causes it to engage pin 52 on control arm 53. During the downward movement of the assembled can parts, a reverse movement of latch 59 retracts control arm 53 from the groove in clutch block 63 to release the clutch pin which then engages clutch disk 62 and causes an active period of the cover feeding mechanism.

As the clutch continues to revolve, a downwardly presented pin 86 on disk 85, the latter being secured to the top of clutch block 63 to rotate therewith, engages latch 50 (Fig. l) and disengages it from pin 52 on control arm 53 which thereupon moves inwardly to engage cam head 8| whereby the clutch pin is retracted from clutch disk 62 to render the clutch inactive by engagement with the control member.

It will thus be seenthat on the up-stroke of the pedestal (provided a can and a cover are in position thereon) the parts that control the actuating mechanism for the cover feeding mechanism are positioned for action and that on the down-stroke of the pedestal the cover feeding mechanism is rendered active to feed a new cover into position. Also that, after one revolution, the clutch of the cover feed actuating mechanism is thrown out of operation.

I claim:

1. In a seaming machine having means to raise and lower a can and cover assembly into and out of seaming position, and having a cover feeding mechanism, an actuator mounted to be engaged and moved by the cover on the can when said assembly rises and to return to its initial position when said assembly is thereafter lowered, actuating means for the cover feeding mechanism normally inactively related to the latter, controlling means to render said actuating means actively related to the cover feeding mechanism, and connections responsive to the upward movement of the actuator to position for action said controlling means and responsive to the return movement of said actuator to cause said controlling means to act.

2. In a seaming. machine having means to raise and lower a can and cover assembly into and out of seaming position, and having a cover feeding mechanism, actuating means for and transmission connections to the cover feeding mechanism, a clutch interposed in said transmission connections, a clutch controlling member normally holding the clutch disengaged, a positioning member, a latch to connect and disconnect the positioning and clutch controlling members, an actuator mounted to be engaged andmoved by the cover on the can when said assembly rises and to return to its initial position when said assembly is thereafter lowered, means, responsive to the movements of the actuator in an upward direction to operate the positioning member to cause the latch to connect the latter with the clutch controlling member, and responsive to the return movement of said actuator to operate the positioning and clutch controlling members to throw the clutch in, and means actuated by the transmission connections to move the latch to disconnect the clutch control. and positioning members to throw the clutch out.

JULIUS BRENZINGER. 

